BT Broadband setup nightmare - Help?!

Steffano2002

Hi there,

Friends of mine in Swords just ordered BT Broadband but I cannot get them connected! In the crappy Zyxel modem I put in all the required information in Page 2 of the Setup Wizard (after checking Mode, Encapsulation, Multiplex, VPI and VCI are all correct in Page 1). We rang BT to double-check UserName and Password so I know they are correct but we always end up failing the tests:

Test your Ethernet connection Pass

Test ADSL Synchronization Fail
Test ADSL (ATM OAM) Loopback Fail (Although we managed to get a Pass here on one single occasion)
Test PPPoE Server Connection Fail
Ping Default Gateway Fail

What am I forgetting/not doing right?

I checked the Line Compatibility again on the Eircom, BT and Digiweb websites and they all passed!

aido_2006

is the adsl light on ur modem/router flashing? unplug all the telephone equipment in house and test ur modem off the master socket using the microfilter, if it is flashing then you should have a spare filter so try that... if ur adsl light is still flashing or off, then i would contact bt tech help and let them know this as there could be a fault on line somewhere...

Steffano2002

aido_2006 wrote:

is the adsl light on ur modem/router flashing? unplug all the telephone equipment in house and test ur modem off the master socket using the microfilter, if it is flashing then you should have a spare filter so try that... if ur adsl light is still flashing or off, then i would contact bt tech help and let them know this as there could be a fault on line somewhere...

Will ring them now and ask them to try that straight away! The DSL light should be on all the time whether or not modem is connected to PC right?

Thanks for your help!

juice79

The DSL might flash for a while after being plugged into the socket but it should stabilise steady green whether plugged into a PC or not.

aido_2006

yes the dsl light should be solid green when the modem is switched on... it either indicates a hardware problem (ie modem/filters) or else there is a definate fault on the line somewhere! no probs..

Steffano2002

OK, they have 2 filters so they'res going to try both after unplugging the phones (they have 2).
They're ringing me back in a bit...

Steffano2002

Well, they did as suggested by aido_2006 but DSL light just keeps flashing. They tried 2 different modems, 2 different filters, 2 different phone wires... Nothing works!
Why does this line pass the ADSL Tests on all the websites if it's not broadband compatible? What is BT going to do now?

dub45

Steffano2002 wrote:

Well, they did as suggested by aido_2006 but DSL light just keeps flashing. They tried 2 different modems, 2 different filters, 2 different phone wires... Nothing works!
Why does this line pass the ADSL Tests on all the websites if it's not broadband compatible? What is BT going to do now?

It sounds as if there is no broadband on the line. Have Esat confirmed that there is bb on the line?

Passing the test on various sites has absolutely nothing to do with your present situation - the test is done monthly - all the information on the other sites comes from Eircom's database and ironically enough lots of lines with BB on them actually fail that test presumably becuase of the effect of the bb on the line when it is subsequently tested by Eircom - your first priority should be to establish that there is definitely a dsl signal present on the line

Steffano2002

dub45 wrote:

It sounds as if there is no broadband on the line. Have Esat confirmed that there is bb on the line?

Passing the test on various sites has absolutely nothing to do with your present situation - the test is done monthly - all the information on the other sites comes from Eircom's database and ironically enough lots of lines with BB on them actually fail that test presumably becuase of the effect of the bb on the line when it is subsequently tested by Eircom - your first priority should be to establish that there is definitely a dsl signal present on the line

Well the line passed the test on the BT website so they accepted the order and sent out the modem... But it doesn't seem to be DSL compatible to me... How exactly do I "establish there is definitely a DSL signal present on the line"?

dub45

Steffano2002 wrote:

Well the line passed the test on the BT website so they accepted the order and sent out the modem... But it doesn't seem to be DSL compatible to me... How exactly do I "establish there is definitely a DSL signal present on the line"?

I dont know why you are saying it is not dsl compatible? You have no basis for saying that - there is no evidence from what you say about the router and what it is picking up that there is a dsl signal present - that has nothing got to do with compatiblity.

As aido_2006 pointed out above when the dsl signal is present on the line the light should be permanently lit on the modem/router and not flickering on and off. It may flicker a a bit while it establishes connection but after that it will be on constantly.

It has been known (rarely enough admittedly) for the router etc to arrive in advance of the line being activated for bb in the exchange - you will have to brave esatbt's customer service and ask them to confirm that the dsl is present (or not present as the case may be) on the line.

juice79

try leaving everything unplugged from all telephone sockets for 15 mins. This resets the line at the local exchange. sounds like BB hasn't been enabled on the line yet as dub45 suggested.

ai ing

Happened to me that my modem arrived 2 days before my line was enabled. Just rang BT and they were able to tell me that it would be enabled in 2 days.

Other one to check is that there is not something else plugged in to the phoneline without a filter like a sky box.

Steffano2002

dub45 wrote:

I dont know why you are saying it is not dsl compatible? You have no basis for saying that - there is no evidence from what you say about the router and what it is picking up that there is a dsl signal present - that has nothing got to do with compatiblity.

I didn't express myself properly, you're right. I should have said "there is no DSL signal on this line" as opposed to "this line is not DSL compatible".

dub45 wrote:

It has been known (rarely enough admittedly) for the router etc to arrive in advance of the line being activated for bb in the exchange - you will have to brave esatbt's customer service and ask them to confirm that the dsl is present (or not present as the case may be) on the line.

Hmmm... I'd be surprised as the order was placed quite a while ago... But will check with BT nonetheless!
Thank you for your help dub45!

Steffano2002

juice79 wrote:

try leaving everything unplugged from all telephone sockets for 15 mins. This resets the line at the local exchange. sounds like BB hasn't been enabled on the line yet as dub45 suggested.

Now THAT, I didn't know! I'll get them to unplug everything for 30 minutes tomorrow and try again!
Thank you for the tip!

Steffano2002

ai ing wrote:

Happened to me that my modem arrived 2 days before my line was enabled. Just rang BT and they were able to tell me that it would be enabled in 2 days.

When I rang up they confirmed it was active...

ai ing wrote:

Other one to check is that there is not something else plugged in to the phoneline without a filter like a sky box.

They do have a Sky box but it's plugged into the filter of the main socket (where PC is also plugged in)...

I'll update you all tomorrow on this issue. Thanks again for all your help!

dub45

Another thing to look out for is that even if you are not actually signed in - if there is a bb signal on the line it should show up somewhere in the router (I dont know this router so I cannot tell you exactly where to look but it is usally one of the main pages) and you should be able to see what speed the modem is syncing at - the down and up speeds are usually shown.

If thats not showing up then theres no signal getting through for whatever reason either the sky box or no actual activation yet.

Another thing not to be discounted is a dodgy filter particularly if a sky box and the modem are going into the same phone socket. And it does not really matter how long ago the order was placed you are dealing (or your friends are) with BT remember:eek:

By the way have they tried the modem directly into the phone socket without the filter. the filter is not necessary when you are only using a modem into the socet by itself.

kaizersoze

Steffano, I setup BT BB for 7 or 8 different people in the last few weeks and most of them received the modem before the line was fully enabled.
It could be another few days before it's fully active so don't beat yourself up over it:) .
You shouldn't have to enter any settings into the modem except the username/password. All the other settings should be in place. Don't forget to add "@btbb" onto the username so it looks like "xxxxxxxxx@btbb".

Steffano2002

dub45 wrote:

Another thing to look out for is that even if you are not actually signed in - if there is a bb signal on the line it should show up somewhere in the router (I dont know this router so I cannot tell you exactly where to look but it is usally one of the main pages) and you should be able to see what speed the modem is syncing at - the down and up speeds are usually shown.

If thats not showing up then theres no signal getting through for whatever reason either the sky box or no actual activation yet.

Well the green light on the Zyxel modem does just that. If it's on, there's a DSL signal. If it doesn't, there is no DSL signal. I think it's safe to say there is no DSL signal (yet?).

dub45 wrote:

Another thing not to be discounted is a dodgy filter particularly if a sky box and the modem are going into the same phone socket. And it does not really matter how long ago the order was placed you are dealing (or your friends are) with BT remember:eek:

By the way have they tried the modem directly into the phone socket without the filter. the filter is not necessary when you are only using a modem into the socet by itself.

We tried 3 different filters and we tried without a filter also... I guess BT haven't activated it yet

Steffano2002

kaizersoze wrote:

Steffano, I setup BT BB for 7 or 8 different people in the last few weeks and most of them received the modem before the line was fully enabled.
It could be another few days before it's fully active so don't beat yourself up over it:) .

That's very comforting Kaisersoze! Maybe it's just a matter oif time after all!

kaizersoze wrote:

You shouldn't have to enter any settings into the modem except the username/password. All the other settings should be in place. Don't forget to add "@btbb" onto the username so it looks like "xxxxxxxxx@btbb".

I'm pretty sure I got that right. If the DSL light wasn't flashing I might have suspected that to be wrong but because it's flashing... Guess it's just BT dragging their feet again!

CuLT

If the DSL light is flashing then you have a DSL signal in the house. Something is interfering with that signal after it enters the house. It could be distance from the main phone point (usually this means the hallway) or it could be that the person has Phonewatch or some other monitored alarm system, a Sky Digital box plugged in, too much equipment on the line, etc.

Also get them to try getting a signal with all equipment plugged out using no filters at the main phone point.

kaizersoze

Steffano2002 wrote:

I'm pretty sure I got that right. If the DSL light wasn't flashing I might have suspected that to be wrong but because it's flashing... Guess it's just BT dragging their feet again!

More like Eircom dragging their feet.
Yeah, I just thought I'd mention the username thing as alot get caught out by that (including myself initially:o ).
Still try what was suggested earlier, disconnect everything from the line and plug the modem directly into the Eircom master socket without filter and see if you get sync on the modem (solid DSL light). At least that will rule out everything in the house.
BTW the "Ping Default Gateway" test will always show as fail so don't worry about that one. BT say they have disabled that feature on their end for "security" reasons.

Tech Pete

I know this will sound crazy but ...
nobody here is an expert in this **** so perhaps why not .. i dunno ...
ring their tech support?

aido_2006

i dont understand why there tech support are trying to leave you to establish where the problem is? i worked in tech support for a while and once they have gone through all the troubleshooting and made sure that line was fully activated without any glitches then they should be booking a fault and passing the fault onto the wholesale department to run diagnostics on the line and then if needed to send an engineer out to exchange or house!! they dont seem to be doing anything for you at moment!!!

hushm0nk3y

i would double-check you have the username in the correct format, ring them to reset your password. Those fail messages can be a sign of incorrect authorisation.

aido_2006

hushm0nk3y wrote:

i would double-check you have the username in the correct format, ring them to reset your password. Those fail messages can be a sign of incorrect authorisation.

username or password issue wouldnt cause a flashing dsl... there is no sync on the line which indicates that the modem is not communicating with the exchange...

Steffano2002

CuLT wrote:

If the DSL light is flashing then you have a DSL signal in the house.

Hmmm... Not sure about that... I believe it flashes if you don't have a DSL signal...

CuLT wrote:

Something is interfering with that signal after it enters the house. It could be distance from the main phone point (usually this means the hallway) or it could be that the person has Phonewatch or some other monitored alarm system, a Sky Digital box plugged in, too much equipment on the line, etc.

Also get them to try getting a signal with all equipment plugged out using no filters at the main phone point.

We are trying to get a signal from the main phone point and we tried with everything plugged out and with no filter... Just doesn't work. I'll find out about Phonewatch though!

Steffano2002

kaizersoze wrote:

More like Eircom dragging their feet.

LOL Yeah, not surprised!

kaizersoze wrote:

Still try what was suggested earlier, disconnect everything from the line and plug the modem directly into the Eircom master socket without filter and see if you get sync on the modem (solid DSL light). At least that will rule out everything in the house.

Tried that. DSL light keeps flashing...

kaizersoze wrote:

BTW the "Ping Default Gateway" test will always show as fail so don't worry about that one. BT say they have disabled that feature on their end for "security" reasons.

Didn't know that (all tests used to Pass when I had BT 2 years ago)! Thanks for info!

Steffano2002

Tech Pete wrote:

I know this will sound crazy but ...
nobody here is an expert in this **** so perhaps why not .. i dunno ...
ring their tech support?

All they do is say "It should work, it should work"... Not very helpful. And the fact that it takes them 1 to 2 hours to ring back...

Steffano2002

hushm0nk3y wrote:

i would double-check you have the username in the correct format, ring them to reset your password. Those fail messages can be a sign of incorrect authorisation.

I'll only start worrying about UserName and Password when that DSL light stops flashing...

Steffano2002

aido_2006 wrote:

i dont understand why there tech support are trying to leave you to establish where the problem is? i worked in tech support for a while and once they have gone through all the troubleshooting and made sure that line was fully activated without any glitches then they should be booking a fault and passing the fault onto the wholesale department to run diagnostics on the line and then if needed to send an engineer out to exchange or house!! they dont seem to be doing anything for you at moment!!!

BT Tech. Support aren't the best and everytime we manage to speak to them they just assume we are doing something wrong which is very frustrating cos I know we are doing everything right!
And they told us yesterday that they didn't send engineers out anyway... Great isn't it?

aido_2006

Steffano2002 wrote:

All they do is say "It should work, it should work"... Not very helpful. And the fact that it takes them 1 to 2 hours to ring back...

Ask to speak with a product specialist... They should know what they are talking about!